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Unit Plan
Curated OER

Storytelling

For Teachers 1st - 3rd Standards
Show young readers how to put some personality and voice into their storytelling with an in-depth assignment. Kids practice saying the same thing, such as counting from one to ten, in different tones and perspectives, and then work on...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Literary Elements: Storytelling Techniques

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students think about what makes a story interesting to read or hear. What kinds of details make a story come to life? How can a storyteller create a feeling of excitement or suspense? What kinds of characters do students like? If anyone...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Multimedia Storytelling

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Experiment with multimedia storytelling. After watching a segment of American Family, first, middle and high schoolers tell a story about their families, clarifying the setting, characters, and script. They work on setting their story in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Greek Story Vases

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
There are so many ways to tell a story! Develop visual storytelling skills while facilitating an understanding of Greek art and culture. Learners design Greek style images to tell a story through art. They add their designs to Styrofoam...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Guest Readers

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Young readers explore reading comprehension by creating a class presentation. In this storytelling lesson, puils read an assigned text in class and analyze the characters, settings and story. They create an illustrated presentation in...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adventures in Toyland

For Teachers K - 5th
There are many ways to tell a story; Richard Patterson's three-dimensional painting If serves as the inspiration for some creative storytelling for elementary school writers. They watch a clip from Toy Story (you'll need to bring this),...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adoption Stories

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Although originally designed for young film makers who wanted to enter their videos in a contest, the step-by-step instructions included here would serve as a guide for any video project. Classes with no access to video editing software...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Characterizations: Indirect and Direct

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Connect literature to narrative writing by researching descriptive writing techniques. Elementary and middle schoolers identify the importance of a narrator and voice in the storytelling process. They read writing samples and identify...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Beyond First Impressions

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Just like the colors and techniques used to create a vivid image, learners will use exceptional language to create vivid stories. They examine the techniques used to tell a visual story in the painting, Road to Santa Fe. They then use...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Effective Storytelling

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students read an article and discuss it for comprehension. They practice storytelling.
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Lesson Plan
Akron Art Museum

Storytelling Resist

For Teachers K - 5th
The illustrations of Ezra Jack Keats in The Snowy Day inspire young artists to examine shapes in illustrations and to use these shapes to create their own watercolor resist painting.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Springfield Digital Storytelling Project #6: Grapes Commercial

For Teachers 6th
Here is a fabulous lesson plan that should have your class very excited! They utilize the GRAPES formula in order to produce a commercial like ones we see on TV. Working in pairs, they must come up with a script, take video, provide...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Map It Out

For Teachers K - 4th
Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...
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Unit Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

American Literary Humor: Mark Twain, George Harris, and Nathaniel Hawthorne

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Nathaniel Hawthorne as a humorist? Really? The three lessons in this series focus on the the storytelling style, conventions, and literary techniques employed by Hawthorne, George Washington Harris, and Mark Twain. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rock Cycle: The Story of a Rock

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the rock cycle by watching videos and then use creative storytelling techniques to tell the story of a rock as it undergoes geologic changes.
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Lesson Plan
J. Paul Getty Trust

Portraits That Capture Character

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
One of the great things about technology is that it lets youngsters visit museums that may be many miles away. With this resource, middle and high schoolers can visit the portrait galleries at J. Paul Getty Museum, located in Los...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making a Kamishibai Stage

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students research and analyze Kamishibai, a form of Japanese storytelling with exciting endings dating back to the 1920's. They recreate a Kamishibai stage to perform their stories with story cards. Performing this task helps to engage...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing Original Adventures About Imaginary Sidekicks

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Students explore storytelling by conceptualizing a story with classmates. In this publishing lesson, students identify the idea development process and discuss word choice when writing a story. Students utilize a graphic organizer to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Preparing to Write

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students practice writing techniques by creating a draft of a story.  In this creative writing lesson, students discuss organizational techniques writers use to plan out a story they wish to write.  Students have the option to write...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching Acting Technique and Building a Character Through Cinema

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students review the style techniques related to the American Method Acting and practice using them in groups. Using various scenes from films, they try to recreate the scene using props. In groups, they discover the proper way to get...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Bear Facts About Summarization

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students practice summarizing techniques in this lesson. They listen as the teacher reads from a non-fiction article, and the class creates a story map to highlight the most important facts from the article. They use the map to write a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The New Fant-"Asia": Contrasting Animated and Live-Action Filmmaking

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners consider different stories and story-telling techniques of animated and live-action filmmaking, write proposals for animated films, and storyboard individual scenes.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Born to be Wild

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Young scholars watch an episode depicting the human vs. polar bear conflict in Churchill, Canada. They conduct online research and analyze the information. They interpret the facts and use storytelling techniques and role playing to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Story Elements/Characterization

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students investigate language arts by analyzing a book with their classmates. In this children's literature instructional activity, students read the story Scarecrow by Cynthia Rylant and discuss the setting and characters. Students...